Brand saddles up to conquer fear
THE irony of being a country music singer with a fear of horses is not lost on Adam Brand.
But, for the 47-year-old Gold Coast star, who appeared on last night’s This Time Next Year finale in an effort to conquer his phobia, singing about the powerful creatures and actually riding one are two very different things.
The Golden Guitar Award winner said his phobia started when he was six years old.
“I jumped on the horse, it reared up and bucked me off and I whacked my nose, there was blood everywhere and that was it – that day I decided I was not going to be friends with horses because horses weren’t friends with me,” he said.
With the help of some of his horse-loving friends, including Gold Coast Titans veteran William Zillman, Brand worked his way up from break- ing into a sweat while simply grooming a horse to feeling comfortable riding one.
“To put it very humbly, I can now understand how people fall in love with these animals,” he said.
“But I didn’t get to gallop so I’d like to eventually do that because everything I do is full throttle. I am totally glad I did this and I could even see myself owning some property with a horse one day.”